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Disconnection

«No one shall be subjected to arbitrary
interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor
to attacks upon his honour and reputation. Everyone has the right to
the protection of the law against such interference or attacks.» —
Article 12 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights

«Despite all the pressure - the letters from lawyers, the letters
from MPs, the strangers knocking up my family and neighbours - if people from
"disconnected" families tell me that Scientology is a cult, that will be
reported.» — John Sweeney, BBC reporter in
Panorama's "Scientology and me"

[...]
Finally, after Dallas broke down and told Hill about
the secret interrogations, the couple agreed to
leave. "We went and stayed at a Travelodge," Hill
says. "They showed up the next day with a U-Haul
full of our stuff. The guy delivering it told
Dallas, 'I'm going to do everything in my power to make sure your family disconnects
from you.'" [...]

[...]
A man with a scraggily white beard and wearing a
dark hood and sunglasses held a sign that read,
“One son, two girls.” Unwilling to give his
name, the man said his three
children are members of Scientology and cut off
relations with him when he left the organization
many years ago. [...]

[...]
Frank, still struggling with life back home, had
become involved in Scientology and was planning
to move to Los Angeles to be closer to that
scene and to explore his art.

Mom wished him luck, and he walked out the door.

And that was a wrap.

No more chance encounters
with my mother on city streets, no late-night
calls of regret, no tear-stained letters of
regret. No surprise appearances at my junior
high plays or Little League games. No slow
approaches from behind an oak tree at my high
school graduation.

Another Scientology policy - called "disconnection"
- forbids Scientologists from interacting with a
suppressive person. No calls, no letters, no contact.

An SP is a pariah. Anyone who communicates with an SP
risks being branded an SP himself.

Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard wrote the policies
four decades ago, church leaders say, not as a tool to
oust members but to provide those going astray with a
mechanism to return to the church's good graces. That
aligns with Scientology's tenets of improving
communication, strengthening relationships.

But SPs who have felt the sting and other church
critics say the suppressive person policy is a
sledgehammer to keep marginal members in line - and in
the flock.

Now twenty-three, Jeffrey lives in a small mountain town more than four hours
from Los Angeles. Since his "escape," as he calls it, from the Sea Org, he has
not returned to the church. He has never spoken out about his experiences, which
he still insists "weren't all that bad." But because he left the Sea Org without
permission, he has been declared suppressive. Soon, he believes, his family
still in the church will have nothing more to do with him.

"I'm about two seconds away from losing my whole family, and if that story comes
out with my stuff in it, I will," wrote a third. "I'm terrified. Please, please,
please . . . if it's not too late . . . help me keep my family."

This is one of the worst policies of Scientology that their deceased founder L.
Ron Hubbard made up. To "disconnect" means cutting off all communication.
Between parents and children, or husband and wife. Regardless what bond one had
previously. Scientology does this under a pretext of helping them. In fact it is
more a means to keep members ignorant of outside interference/information, which
could result in revenue loss for the organization when members would leave
because of gaining new perspectives with information previously withheld to
them.

Scientologists who associate with anyone deemed an
SP are termed "Potential Trouble Sources", and forbidden
further auditing or training. Indeed, Scientologists can
be ordered to cease communication with, or "disconnect"
from, anyone considered unfriendly by the Church of
Scientology.

"Disconnection" is virtually identical to
the "shunning" practised by certain extreme fundamentalist groups.

5. As any Scientologist in good standing, Ann believes that
her spiritual eternity depends upon strict adherence to the
policies of Scientology. Those policies include the purging from
their relationships anyone who is openly critical of their
beliefs. Scientology labels their members "Potential Trouble
Source" (PTS) when they have such connections. The PTS persons
are dealt with in Scientology's Ethics department and are
coercively forced to change their relationship and associations
in accordance with Hubbard's policies, before they can continue
with their Scientology training and counseling. No "Potential
Trouble Source" can receive auditing or training in Scientology,
except for that which is designed strictly to alter their PTS
situation. In the event that the member is connected with a
critic, the only solution for the member is to disconnect from
them. If the member fails to disconnect, they are refused
Scientology training or auditing. They also run the risk of
being labeled a "suppressive person" themselves by reason of
non-compliance with Scientology 's disconnection policy regarding critics. L.
Ron Hubbard covers many of these policies in his book called Introduction to
Scientology Ethics.

16. Once they had us again
behind the barbwire and watched by security, my wife was threatened
that if we did not sign certain papers, she would no longer be able
to see her father and her sister, who were both in the Sea Organization.

17. This is another coercive power that the organization wields. Like a police
state, it can order and enforce family members to alter their relations, and
even get them to turn against each other. Monika and I knew that if the
organization said she would be kept from her father and sister (by control over
them), that she would not again be able to talk to them or see them, let alone
visit. This is called "disconnection" in Scientology. We agreed to sign the
papers and were able to leave.

I
have lost three children that I have loved and nurtured for two
decades, as a result of the church’s policy of "disconnection".
I am hopeful that this report is passed along and one day reaches them, so that
they will learn the truth of why I have been silenced.

In the
O'Donnell case it could almost be said that Scientology "caused"
the estrangement between Noel and his parents; it certainly
contributed to it in a substantial manner. It also contributed
substantially to the estrangement between Erin and her parents.
This contribution was made not only in the production of
anti-parental attitudes but also by the official act of the
organisation in declaring the parents to be suppressive persons.
This declaration was followed by the sending 6 disconnecting
letters to Mr and Mrs O'Donnell by a large number of
Scientologists, of most of whom they had no previous knowledge.
It was also followed by the particularly vicious disconnecting
letter written by Linklater and already quoted. There were also
a suppressive person declaration and disconnecting letters in the Morris case.

The Board heard evidence of broken marriages in which one partner was a
scientologist and in which scientology was at least a contributing factor. This
was not because scientology has as a goal the breaking up of marriages where one
party is not a scientologist, but rather because, as one witness put it, if a
person who was scientology-orientated had a spouse who was not
scientology-orientated and was anti-scientology, and on that account there was
no chance of reconciliation and no prospect of getting the non-conforming spouse
into scientology, then the scientology spouse would be advised to consider
giving up the marriage.

63. Hubbard's "Policy Letter" "Suppressive Acts...",
[JCA-115], lists over 100 actions considered "High Crimes" or
"Suppressive Acts" by Scientology. The list begins with "murder", making
it clear how severely Scientology views the other listed actions. These
include: "Public statements against Scientology"; "Testifying hostilely
before state or public inquiries"; "Continued membership in a divergent
group"; "Continued adherence to a person or group pronounced a
suppressive person or group"; "Delivering up the person of a
Scientologist without justifiable defense or lawful protest to the
demands of civil or criminal law"; "Permitting students to talk to each
other ... during course hours"; "to publicly depart Scientology". For committing any of these "high crimes", a Scientologist can be expelled and
"declared Suppressive" and his Scientologist friends and family forbidden
further communication with him
[JCA-2].

28. I was also in charge of investigating and finding the "Suppressive Person" if a
department wasn't producing enough. I had to make people write up their "overts &
withholds" (things they had done that were bad), receive
confessionals, do amends, etc. I had to write a "Suppressive
Person" declare on a lady who had already left with permission
but then was ordered to receive more confessionals and was
having trouble getting a ride to come over and receive them. She was then made to disconnect from family and friends who were in the Sea Org
and her husband was ordered to split up from her, but he refused. [...]

38. We were also made to fill out
interrogatories listing out any gifts we
received from family members, who we spoke to
and anyone we knew who had left the Sea
Organization. Anyone we were talking to, family or friends, who had either left Scientology,
gave us gifts or money or tried to get us to take time off, were called
'External Influences" and we were ordered to either handle them or disconnect
from them entirely.

The threat of "disconnection" from loved ones and friends in the group also
makes leaving difficult, said former members who testified at the trial. All had
found it necessary to completely sever their ties to active Scientologists, who
were forbidden to communicate with the defectors by organization policy.

The Suppressive declare was published, and Samuels'
wife left him, taking the children with her. She "disconnected" and started divorce proceedings.
His children were told he was a "criminal and would
probably be going to jail in the near future." Scientologist business associates
and friends were ordered to disconnect from him or be declared Suppressive
themselves. Even Samuels' stockbroker, who was a Scientologist, was ordered to
disconnect, and refused to take instructions to sell stock. As he had been
declared, Samuels was told he must leave his sister's house, where he was
staying, or she too would be declared Suppressive.

So Scientology, I ask you this: respect people's 1st amendment rights and listen
to them. Realize that other large organizations are criticised and that they are
able to reform and may end up better for it. Other organization that have split
up families have been harsh and cruel military dictatorships. They have enjoyed
a reign of terror for a few years and have invariably perished. And finally, let
my daughters speak to their mother.

Starting in August, Tanya will be going back to
school again, two years behind her class. She is on her
own, aided by a welfare grant. She only has contact with her grandmother, from whom she has learned that her
father does not want anything more to do with her. Tanya wrote him a
letter, really only one line, "Since I love him, it's
all the same to me what happens." She just does not want
to be one of those people who do not say when they love
others. She says, "I do not think that he will ever speak with me again."

My own mother was even ex-communicated recently, her
crime was to take her divorce settlement through the
legal courts, rather than submit to adjudication by
the church's internal chaplain service. I choose not
to disconnect from my own mother, but had to leave
the church and my own father and
sister have "chosen" to disconnect from me
(as I am still in contact with my mother).

I will suggest however that maybe you should spend
the manpower and time of drafting your masterpiece
rebuttal — why don't you take the high road for once
and put that time towards repairing the families you
have destroyed, starting with the family of
David Miscavige
himself — hell, if Scientology can't keep his family
together — then why on earth should anyone believe
the Church helps bring families together!

In a few days Henri called me and she was crying. She said, "oh Ida I just got a
booklet that the cult printed on you, and it has a pitiful affidavit from your
son which I know is a Notice of Disconnection."

Janet
remarried again, and in 1994, she received a
telephone call from Lisa, who was still in
Scientology. Lisa told Janet, using Scientology
terminology, that Janet needed to “handle” her
freeloader debt and/or return to Scientology, or
Lisa would have to “disconnect” (disassociate)
from Janet. Janet explained that she would not
be returning to Scientology, and Lisa then told
her that she was disconnecting forever, and from
1994 to 2004, Janet never heard from her sister.

16. Hubbard and Scientology taught that anyone
connected to a Suppressive Person is a “Potential
Trouble Source” (“PTS”), so called because he is
going to make trouble for the organization. They
taught that connection to an SP is the cause of all
illness, and that a PTS will get better then get
worse because of that connection. A person
determined to be PTS was denied auditing and
training and removed from certain organization
positions until he had “handled” the SP he was
connected to or “disconnected” from the SP. Scientology has claimed throughout the past thirty-five years that
“disconnection” is not a practice of the organization, but it definitely was and
continues to be. [...]

45. In the spring of 1979, on the same day
that I was reprieved from the RPF, my wife Terri
announced to me that she had been ordered that either she divorce me or she could not continue to be
a Messenger for Hubbard.
She said that she had chosen
Hubbard and that was the end of our relationship. I
continued to work on renovating
Hubbard’s home, posted as the LRH Renovations
In-Charge. In the summer of 1979, I
was posted as the D/CO HU SU, the head of Hubbard's
“Household Unit” at Gilman. My
“juniors” included the LRH Steward, the LRH
Carpenter, the LRH Groundsman, the
LRH Electrician and the LRH Gear In-Charge, who was
responsible for his personal
belongings stored on the Gilman property.

My name is Grace Aaron. My husband, Ken, and I were both declared suppressive
by the Church of Scientology in the spring of 2000. Our son, Zachary, was
pressured to disconnect from me, his mother, Ken, his father, and Johnny, his
brother. We have had only minimal communication with him since that time.

Richard Kipperman, a Class 8 auditor who was the Mission Holder of the Beverly
Hills Mission before he was declared suppressive in the early 1980s for no good
reason -- probably because he was a good person, tried to get back in good
standing because his teenage daughter got into Scientology and she was told to
disconnect and she didn't want to so she talked Richard into trying to get into
good standing. Well, he went through all the hoops and Richard Valle, the
Continental Justice Chief West US just tormented him, caused a tremendous amount
of stress for the family and when Richard had completed all the steps he was
still denied re-admittance to the group.

Vickki has lost her son as a result of Scientology's practice of Disconnection,
a policy which has torn apart many families. She will continue to speak out
about this heartbreaking practice until she and her son are reunited.

I was encouraged by the "Ethics Officer" to disconnect from my mother and
girlfriend, as they were "antagonistic" to my being in Scientology. I was told
that I can't achieve these states of awareness if I remained connected to people
who are "suppressive." So of course I did.

For those new to the scene, that last paragraph is a "disconnection," meaning my
brother will not speak to me or have anything more to do with me until I am back
in good standing with the Church of Scientology -- which means forever, for the
rest of our lives.

Scientology is the most important thing in my
life. I know without any doubts or reservations that it
works. And I care about my Eternity. I also care
about yours, which is why I urge you to handle this situation
before it is too late.

But until you do, I cannot and will not risk my own future.
Therefore, until you have been given a clean bill of health from
the MAA--are in good standing with the Church, have disconnected
from Mayo and his group, and handled whatever Ethics program
assigned by the MAA, I cannot continue to be in communication
with you in any way.

I had known for a long time that our relationship could not survive my custody
suit and the criticism of Scientology that entailed, but I had truly expected
you to wait until your eighteenth birthday to disconnect from me. In that, I was
obviously mistaken.

...Mar. 1,
2002 Jeff Carlson writes to Fred, telling him he must
"handle" his sister, Tanya
Durni, to stop her from "attacking" the Church of
Scientology. This is the cover letter to the PTS Type A declare.Mar. 1,
2002 Fred is declared PTS (Potential Trouble Source) Type A
because his sister Tanya Durni has made Internet postings
critical of Scientology. Fred is ordered to "handle or
disconnect".Aug.
27, 2002 Fred sends his sister Tanya a disconnection letter.
...

5. In July of 73, our son Casavius was born. He has been in Scientology and he
was ever since birth. He now has disconnected from us due to the fact that we
left the Sea Org and are no longer in agreement with several of the tenets of
the Sea Org.

In 1981 my wife Susan Yeager got acute lymphocytic leukemia.
After her 3rd relapse in 1982 she was told by Bruce McKenzie,
the Portland mission's ethics officer that I was the cause of
her cancer. He told her that I was an SP (Suppressive Person)
and she got cancer because she was married to me. Note — I have
never been declared an SP by the C.O.S. (Church of Scientology).
Bruce told her that the only way she could live was by divorcing me.
Several weeks later after getting auditing and being disconnected from me she
was very sick and I was able to get her admitted to the City of Hope Hospital
where she died in December, 1982.

The next day, Mrs. Farrell told her what was wrong
with her. Jean, she explained, was a "potential trouble
source" who suffered from associating with "suppressive
people." To free herself, Mrs. Farrell said, Jean would have to sit down and write a letter to one of her "suppressive"
friends, in which she "disconnected" herself.
...

... One clause in it requires you to disconnect
from associates, friends or family if the Hubbard
Guidance Centre decides such people are "enturbulative."
Whatever else that may mean, it certainly includes anyone who is critical of
Scientology.

The method of dealing with family members
demanded by the SO in cases of conflict is in
crass contradiction to the values set in Basic
Law. Scientologist are supposed to "handle"
"antagonistic" family members, meaning those who
refuse to accept Scientology. Thus, family
members have to be drawn into the SO or left
alone. Conflicts and occasional mental stress
tests are commented upon with cynicism:

<A Scientologist who through family or other
ties is connected to a person who is guilty of
suppressive actions is generally a potential
source of trouble or a source of trouble. The
history of Dianetics and Scientology is full of
these.> [102]

If the "antagonistic" family members will not
be "handled," the organization requires, as a
rule, that connections to the person be cut. The
directives permit "ethics officers,"
<particularly in connection with husbands and
wives>, to issue a "Separation Order"). If one
of these is issued, the husband and wife, at
least for a certain amount of time, are not
permitted to have contact with each. [103]

The SO justifies the break this way:

<It is quite similar to how one deals with a
criminal. If he does not handle the situation,
then society reaches for the only other
solution: it 'breaks' the connection of the
criminal with society. In other words, it
removes him from society and puts him in a
prison, (...)> [104]

In case of conflict the values of marriage and family founded in the basic law
have no meaningful role for the SO. On the contrary, "failure to handle <or
dissociate or disconnect from> a person demonstrably guilty of Suppressive Acts"
[105] is listed as a "high crime" in Scientology.

Anyway, on mother's day my two daughter's were in a funk. They know that they
will never talk to their Mother, Grandmother or Brother again, they don't even
know how to contact them. They haven't seen them in nearly two years, since the
proverbial hit the fan. When they tried to call them at the Sea Organizations
where they work, their calls were not forwarded. They have long since given up
any attempt at getting through, as a waste of time.

He was expelled and declared a Suppressive Person, and a list of people, including his wife and his stepchildren, was issued, stating that these people were called what's called Potential Trouble Sources; in other
words, they were connected to Mr. Walters and either they — either had to disconnect from him or they would be also expelled from Scientology.
There was a list of about thirteen or fourteen people.